Hello loves! Last month we were in Seoul, the capital of South Korea with a beautiful blend of high technology and ancient traditions. I always wanted to visit this city so when Samsung invited us to join them to visit their headquarters and to check out the city we were really excited to go! We’ve been working together with Samsung for many years now and this year they put together a little team with people from all over the world consisting of: Dian from Indonesia, Zainab from Dubai, Sam from Australia, KK from Taiwan, Killian from France, Leon and Nil from Brazil, SuperSaf from the UK, the Slow Mo guys from UK and US and Klemens and I from Germany to experience the new Galaxy s9 and Galaxy s9+. Earlier this year we all went to Barcelona for the Unpacking event and now to Seoul to visit the HQ, it’s such an honour that they invited us to be part of this experience.
The first day we had free time to discover the city, since Seoul is a huge city with a population of 10.29 million people there are so many areas to visit and things to see, we were a bit lost of where to go but read about Hongdae district which is close to the universities. Therefor there’s lots of young people, a lot of fashion, cute cafe’s, restaurants and packed with beauty shops. I was very excited to buy beauty products which is something Korea is very famous for so I brought Klemens with me hunting for face masks while having coffee breaks and watching all the people walking by. In the evening we met up with the Samsung team for cocktail and drinks.
The second day we went to the Samsung HQ a bit outside of Seoul, it’s so huge that it wouldn’t fit inside the city so instead they have their own Samsung city in Suwon! We visited the SIM (Samsung Innovation Museum), visited their reliability test rooms where they test all their devices, bending, dropping, temperatures, etc etc and had lunch together with their employees and saw how it all works there. In the evening we went up the Lotte Tower, one of the tallest towers in Seoul, for dinner at the Michelin starred restaurant Bicena with view over the whole city. The food was incredible, a lot of small dishes and traditional Korean rice liquor.
The third day we went sightseeing, first off we went to try on traditional Korean Hanbok dresses. There were so many colours and patterns to choose from, but I went with a neutral one with pink details. It was so much fun when we were all dressed, I specially like the hats that the guys wore, we took some photos together and after we went out in our Hanboks to visit the Secret Garden at Changdeokgung Palace, a UNESCO world cultural heritage site, known as the place for kings to rest. We were there in right time for the cherry blossom so the garden was extra beautiful with several pavilions, lotus pond and old paths. It was incredibly beautiful and I could have walked around for hours, unfortunately we had a full schedule in Seoul and had to hurry to our next location which was the old area Insadong filled with little boutiques, tea shops and art galleries. We went for Buddhist temple monk lunch in a beautiful place and tried out their traditional food, I have to admit it was very different from what I normally eat but it was fun and interesting to try it. Koreans are very up to date with healthy food, and Buddhist temple food is very healthy since it’s strictly vegetarian and only contains natural flavouring like raw soy bean powder, mushrooms and wild sesame seeds, etc etc. It doesn’t contain any chili, garlic or onion which is more typical so there was not much taste but we sure felt healthy and energetic when we were done! I’d absolutely recommend visiting one of those places for lunch or dinner if you visit Seoul, it’s so interesting with different food cultures.
In the evening part of us went to visit the Gangnam district which is very famous all over the world due to the Gangnam style song I’m sure all of you have heard! It’s filled with skyscrapers, shopping and clubs, a must see as well.
To finish our wonderful trip we finally had Korean BBQ, not only were we excited to try Korean BBQ in Korea but also because the DJ Koh, CEO of Samsung came to join us for the dinner! It was amazing to have dinner, drinking beers and talking with him in such a small group, we were all surprised that he came all by himself and he sure did enjoy the party, what an amazing and inspiring guy! After dinner we went out to check out the nightlife and I was happily surprised by how cool everyone is, I really fell in love with what I saw of Seoul for those short days.
Those were our three days in Seoul, there is still so much to see and I really want to go back soon again to discover and learn more about the city and also the country itself. There’s so much history in Korea and so much evolution happening right now between the two.
Thank you Samsung for the amazing time with the team! Won’t forget <3
Lots of love xx Mikuta
In friendly collaboration with Samsung.
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2 comments
You must have a great time! Amazing places! And beautiful pictures.
Amazing places. You must have a great time! Beautiful pictures!